Association of greenness surrounding school with aggression among primary school students
Objective To explore the association between greenness surrounding school and aggression among primary school students,and to explore the potential mediating roles of social support,loneliness,particulate matter(PM2.5)and Nitrogen Dioxide(NO2)in this association,in order to provide a scientific reference for preventing and ameliorating aggressive behaviors of primary school students.Methods The data was used from a survey of children and adolescents conducted in 2015.The Chinese version of the Buss-Warren Aggression Questionnaire was used to assess total and sub-types of aggression,and the mean values of normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)of 100 m,500 m,1 000 m circular buffers surrounding school were used to indicate the participants'greenness exposure.PM2.5 and NO2 datas were obtained from the China High Air Pollutants Dataset.Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to assess the associations of greenness surrounding school with total and sub-types of aggression.Results Per IQR increment of NDVI-500 m[OR(95%CI)=1.09(1.03-1.15)]and NDVI-1 000 m[OR(95%CI)=1.07(1.02-1.13)]were positively correlated with physical aggression among primary school children,and per IQR increment of NDVI-100 m[OR(95%CI)=0.94(0.90-0.99)],NDVI-500 m[OR(95%CI)=0.93(0.89-0.98)]and NDVI-1 000 m[OR(95%CI)=0.95(0.91-1.00)]were negatively associated with verbal aggression(P<0.05).Mediation analyses revealed that social support partially media-ted the association between the NDVI-500 m and physical aggression(mediation ratio:18.0%)and verbal aggression(mediation ratio:-8.3%)among primary school students,and loneliness partially mediated the association between the NDVI-500 m and phys-ical aggression and verbal aggression among elementary school students effects,with proportion mediated ratios of-10.0%and 21.0%,respectively(P<0.05).Conclusions Exposure to school surrounding greenness is likely to associated with physical ag-gression and verbal aggression in primary school students,and social support and loneliness may partially mediate these associa-tions.